ארכיון התגית 'MK Nachman Shai'

U.S. Envoy’s Farewell: Relations With Israel 'Stronger, Closer' Under Obama'It is true that there were arguments, but it is also true that that is perfectly natural when it comes to friends,' Dan Shapiro tells Knesset members.

Judy Maltz Jan 18, 2017 1:31 AM

Despite perceptions to the contrary, ties between the United States and Israel were enhanced during the eight-year tenure of President Barack Obama, Ambassador Dan Shapiro told a large gathering of Knesset members on Tuesday.

“When history is written about this period in the future, the historians and their readers will understand that relations between the two countries actually got stronger and closer,” Shapiro said at a farewell reception hosted in his honor by the Knesset caucus on U.S.-Israel relations.
“It is true that there were controversies, and it is true that there were arguments, but it is also true that that is perfectly natural when it comes to friends,” he added, delivering his address in fluent Hebrew.

The outgoing ambassador, who will remain in Israel at least for the next few months so that his children can finish the school year here, said he had “always been guided by the vision of Obama, who sent me here with his commitment to strengthen the ties between our two countries.”

In an emotional farewell, Knesset members from across the political spectrum showered Shapiro with words of praise and appreciation. Representatives of all the parties, except the ultra-Orthodox factions and the Joint Arab List, attended the reception.

Neither the names of President-elect Donald Trump nor Shapiro’s presumed successor, David Friedman, were mentioned at the gathering. Only one Knesset member – Tamar Zandberg of the left-wing Meretz party – alluded to Israeli concerns about the future under the new administration. Praising Shapiro for successfully fighting those determined to undermine the bipartisan nature of relations between the two countries, she said: “I hope your legacy carries over because the voices we’ve been hearing in the meantime give us cause for concern.”

MK Nachman Shai, co-chair of the Knesset caucus for U.S.-Israel relations and a member of the Zionist Union, noted that Obama’s term in office was ending “with a bitter taste” for many in Israel. “But I believe history will judge things differently,” he said. “There was not an economic, military or political campaign that Israel launched over the past eight years in which the United States did not stand with us shoulder to shoulder.”
National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz, who represented the government at the gathering, called Shapiro “the best U.S. ambassador ever in Israel.”

Judy MaltzHaaretz Correspondent

Original article: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.765709

Video from the official event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdnpaADxJwg

Little piece of heaven on earth– M.K Dr Nachman Shai

Excluding Israel, assimilation among non-Orthodox Jewish communities worldwide has sky rocketed to a whopping 70% and statements made by Israeli politicians have not been encouraging.

One does't need to be privy to all the minutiae of the long and drawn-out Western Wall prayer saga to understand the bottom line: the Western Wall is not accessible to Conservative and Reform Jews who want to come pray according to their beliefs.

This is a sad status for the decades-long struggle, which may never end. Apparently we’re losing the battle. What the Israeli political leadership doesn’t understand is that this is an important test for Israeli- Diaspora relations, as the deep divisions between the two largest Jewish communities in the world are expanding.

As the chairman of the Caucus for Strengthening the Jewish People, I led a delegation of five Knesset members on a tour of four Jewish communities in North America two weeks ago.

Likud MK David Bitan and I established this caucus in conjunction with the Jewish Agency during the 18th Knesset, and it has grown and developed tremendously these last few years. This was the second time this year the Jewish Federations of North America hosted our caucus, whose purpose is to introduce Knesset members to the world of our fellow Jews in the Diaspora. For most MKs, these tours are an intense, eye-opening experience in which they learn about the complexity of American-Jewish communities.

At every single federation we visited, our hosts wanted to discuss the Kotel saga. Rabbis from across the spectrum – including Orthodox – as well as laypeople wanted to know what progress was being made. This topic has become the litmus test of Israel’s relationship with the American-Jewish community.

“You call upon us to help you continuously – sometimes financially, and sometimes politically,” the Americans say to us. “We are the ‘go to’ people in times of emergency – and that’s the way it should be.

“Kol Yisrael areivim zeh la’zeh – Jews have always taken care of each other. This is a long-standing Jewish tradition and we share a real kinship. We love you and enjoy jumping into action whenever the need arises. We help you and you help us.

“It’s just that we’ve rarely ever asked for help over the years, and now that we do have a request – access to the Western Wall – we’re pretty disappointed. We are not bothered about the imbalance of help, but it’s not acceptable that when we do have a request we are ignored.”

This makes a lot of sense. When the Iran deal was being debated, the American-Jewish community stood strong alongside Israel. And they have our backs 100% on BDS. Financial support is as forthcoming as ever, through hundreds of different channels.

The American-Jewish community also functions as a conduit for Israel to reach the wider American community and we receive tremendous support from our non-Jewish friends in the US. Israelis take this support for granted and this is a big mistake.

And what does Israel say in response to the Americans? We tell them we’re a state, not a community. That it’s nothing personal, just politics. We must make compromises, since we don’t think we can survive without the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties in our coalition. We’d love to have all Jews come pray at the Western Wall, sorry about that, but our hands are tied.

Netanyahu, who on two separate occasions told the American-Jewish community not to worry, that he would be personally responsible for assuring free access to the Western Wall, has once again gone back on his word.

Years of negotiations led by Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky and then-cabinet secretary Avichai Mandelblit down the drain. Just moments before reaching the light at the end of the tunnel – and some people had already begun celebrating – the haredi parties succeeded in torpedoing the agreement.

The MKs who accompanied me on this past trip were shocked to their core when they heard how disappointed the American-Jewish leaders were with the way Israel was dealing with the Kotel saga.

To most Israelis, this is a very marginal issue. They realize the ultra-Orthodox rabbinate has absolute control over religious affairs and have given up hope that it could be any other way. They don’t realize that by doing so, they are alienating the majority of world Jewry.

Excluding Israel, assimilation among non-Orthodox Jewish communities worldwide has sky rocketed to a whopping 70% and statements made by Israeli politicians have not been encouraging.

Unbelievably enough, Tourism Minister Yariv Levin recently made a disparaging comment about the Reform community, and the ultra-Orthodox doesn’t even consider them Jewish. Even though legislation was passed by the previous government, the current government has overturned almost every single resolution following pressure from haredi parties.

Even Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid, who played a major role in these changes, has recently been photographed schmoozing with haredim at the Western Wall.

We are now being put to a test. This is a classic example of Israel-Diaspora conflict resolution and we must be very careful and thoughtful about the choices we make. If we make the wrong decision, it could poison our relationship with American Jewry for good.

Netanyahu needs to show us what his word is worth and that he can keep his promises. This shouldn’t be another case of politics – where you say one thing but do another.

The reputation of the State of Israel is at stake here.

There’s no better time for Netanyahu to do some soul-searching, now that the High Holy Days are upon us. He must ask forgiveness from the Reform and Conservative communities, and offer them, literally, a little piece of heaven here on earth.

The writer is a member of Knesset from the Zionist Union, chairman of the Caucus for Strengthening the Jewish People and has a doctorate in political science and communications.

Opinion: Is Netanyahu muzzling the media? – M.K Dr. Nachman Shai

PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu has spent hours upon hours holding off-the-record meetings with the Israeli media in recent weeks. With the exception of cabinet meetings, I don’t believe there is another subject that the prime minister has invested so much time and effort in over the same period. There is, however, no cause for surprise; for Netanyahu, the media has become the message.

When Netanyahu put together his most recent government, he saved for himself the communications portfolio. At first, the move seemed devoid of any logic. It was one thing to act temporarily as foreign minister until new coalition partners could be found, but the Communications Ministry has never been on the list of desirable portfolios for a prime minister. All of Netanyahu’s predecessors have held additional portfolios, but for the most part they would take the defense and foreign ministries.

In the early 1980s, I served as spokesman at the Israeli Embassy in Washington together with Netanyahu who was a diplomatic attaché. We had many conversations about the media and in particular the Israeli media. Netanyahu, then in his early thirties, was hungry for power, influence and fame.

He enjoyed the patronage of the ambassador at the time, Moshe Arens, who told me that one day Netanyahu would become prime minister. In our conversations Netanyahu presented a liberal, pluralistic worldview, saying, “There is room for a plethora of media, and competition between them should be encouraged.”

Thanks to his polished English, his broad knowledge and people skills, Netanyahu very soon made himself the go-to guy for senior journalists, commentators and analysts. Later, as ambassador to the UN, Netanyahu would become a star, a frequent guest on TV who worked his charm on the New York media and elites.

The Israeli media was slow to pick up on Netanyahu’s potential – and the danger inherent in him – but he gradually became a prominent figure both in the US and in Israel.

His relationship with the Israeli media began to develop when he was surprisingly voted head of the Likud and then prime minister.

But since then, his relationship with the media has soured. After countless personal affairs, the media no longer cuts him any slack and he, for his part, has become hostile toward it. In Netanyahu’s perception, his electoral victories have come against the media’s will and he has tapped into a longstanding belief in the Likud that “the media is against us.” This belief has remained unchanged since the Likud first came to power in 1977 until today, despite the fact that it has been the ruling party for the majority of that time. The view has taken root in Likud that the media is leftwing, hostile and serves Netanyahu’s political opponents.

Netanyahu’s feeling of being ostracized led to the launch of a daily paper, the freebie, Israel Hayom, backed by his friend Sheldon Adelson. Israel Hayom became a huge success, passing Yedioth Ahronoth as the widest circulation daily in the country.

It also led to a dramatic decline in the price of advertising, dealing a harsh blow to the media market and in particular to Yedioth, an important political player.

Netanyahu was in fact likely motivated to hold on to the communications portfolio by proposed legislation to ban the distribution of free newspapers – known as the Israel Hayom Bill – that passed an early hurdle in the Knesset in 2014 but never progressed.

He didn’t want any more surprises.

ON THE eve of the last elections in March 2015, the rivalry between Netanyahu and the media reached its peak. The prime minister felt that he was about to lose power among other things because of the media’s hostile coverage of him. Three days before the elections he launched a communications blitz, recruiting the ostensibly hostile media, turned the tables and won the elections.

But Netanyahu didn’t forget. After the elections he set about a major reform of the communications market and he now pulls the strings on both public and private broadcasts.

There is no media outlet in Israel that escapes his influence.

Together with Gilad Erdan, the public security minister, Netanyahu decided to disband the Israel Broadcasting Authority and replace it with the new Israeli Broadcasting Corporation. The truth is that the IBA suffers from mismanagement and corruption, but it is also on the whole a courageous media outlet, and courage and journalistic dedication are not what the prime minister wants.

The new broadcasting corporation got underway with severe birth pangs, but it transpired that the change was not revolutionary.

Netanyahu saw that it was going to be more of the same, came down with a case of buyer’s remorse and tried to backtrack.

He didn’t succeed. The managers of the new corporation made it clear they were already in mid-process, while public opinion was incensed, the Knesset was up in arms, and the Finance Minister said he wouldn’t pay out hundreds of millions of shekels to keep two parallel public broadcasters up and running.

Netanyahu turned his attention to commercial television. Channel 2 is much stronger than its younger rival Channel 10, but a government-sponsored bill would require the News Corporation, which produces the highly watched Channel 2 news broadcasts, to be sold to one of the channel’s two franchisees, Keshet and Reshet. With three commercial channels and three news corporations, ratings will be much lower.

In order to pull regulatory strings, the prime minister merged the Second Authority for Television and Radio with the Council for Cable TV and Satellite Broadcasting as a branch in the Communications Ministry. The upshot is that we no longer have a public authority with financial and executional independence.

The communication minister will from now on be able to control the merged entity via a public board of directors that he will appoint. This is no less than a nationalization of regulation of commercial television and radio, and the dream of setting up an Israeli equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission that could even replace the Communications Ministry itself has been buried.

But the crusade goes on. Educational TV – which at the moment remains under the auspices of the Education Ministry – is likely to be swallowed up by the new Broadcasting Corporation when it finally comes on air in 2018. The prime minister has also expressed negative opinions of the highly popular Army Radio channels, but for the moment they remain under the authority of the Defense Ministry. People close to the prime minister, such as Culture Minister Miri Regev, have said explicitly that military stations have no place in a democratic society. No word was heard in response from Netanyahu.

THE PRIME minister studiously avoids being interviewed. He is acutely aware of every word that is said or written about him and responds at lightning speed. In order to circumvent traditional media, he is active on social media, where he can write whatever he pleases. Despite the fact that he does not give interviews to the Israeli media he finds ways to get his positions across. Recently, after signing a new military aid agreement with the US, he deftly used his ministers, MKs and senior officials in a well-orchestrated chorus to fend off criticism. This proves that Netanyahu has not lost hope and understands that without the media he is left exposed and defenseless. But more than that, it is a case of “if you can’t beat them, join them.” He is determined to change the fundamentals of the Israeli media in order to finally gain its sympathy.

In that way, he differs from the diplomatic attaché at the Israeli embassy in Washington 35 years ago. He no longer believes that the existing Israeli media landscape loves him, so he simply wants to replace it.

Without freedom of speech there is no media and without the media there is no democracy.

While social media provides a platform and means of expression for each and every individual and the public arena has never been so open, its influence is limited. Netanyahu continues to preach for media pluralism, but in actuality the result is inverse.

Instead of removing regulatory obstacles, new ones are being added. The media, even under economic and regulatory siege, refuses to surrender and continues to maintain its independence.

Is this on account of the Jewish tradition of free speech and intellectual independence? Or is it the rebellious Israeli character? Probably a bit of both. Israelis must stand up and be counted. We need a vibrant, confident media that has teeth. Israel’s image as a democratic Jewish state is being tested. The prime minister’s strategy must be rejected. A plethora of portfolios is one thing, but stifling free speech is another.

This is our moment of truth. We are all called to rally round the flag!

Nachman Shai is an MK for the Zionist Union party. He is a former IDF spokesman and has a PhD in political science and communications